Today's Internet service providers (ISPs) include wireless service providers that provide wireless data access service to millions of subscribers. Availability of multimedia-rich applications such as Internet browsing access, video and audio streaming, news, social networking, and persistent context-aware applications is rapidly increasing, while the number and diversity of wireless devices capable of high-speed data network access and multimedia playback are concurrently increasing towards a future in which most, if not all, wireless devices will have multimedia and data access capabilities.
It is estimated that from 2008 through 2013, global media traffic will increase by approximately 66 times. In particular, video traffic is expected to grow at an annual rate of around 154%. This trend is further amplified by diversification of networks such as femtocell-based networks, of devices like netbook computers, and tablets such as Apple® iPad (available from Apple Corporation of Cupertino, Calif.), and of applications such as video social networking. This migration to more data-intensive applications presents new challenges for mobile operators to cost effectively provide high-quality media content to their subscribers while also minimizing bandwidth resource usage by each device.
Content broadcasting techniques present a promising area for conserving bandwidth. Optimizing placement and management of content to be distributed through a broadcast mechanism remains an allusive goal for the conservation of bandwidth and for providing a robust, high-speed data access network for wireless service subscribers.